This compilation of short stories is best described by comparison. It has the same style and intent as the old “Outer Limits” TV show. Always questioning our everyday reality. Always wondering, “What if…?” The stories run the gamut of Sci-Fi: a few UFOs, a touch of time travel, a shot of dystopian life of various […]
“Miscreants, Murderers, and Thieves!” by Samuel W. Reed
This is a short story anthology with a slightly misleading title, especially the exclamation mark. Some of the characters portrayed in these stories fall under those categories but many do not. In any case, most of them are entertaining, emotion producing or thought provoking. If there is any exclamation as you read, it is […]
“Get That Job!” by Christine Reidhead
This is one of those self-help books that everyone should check out, no matter how prepared you are for whatever it is you are trying to do. Even if you have a pretty good idea how to go about it, there is always some detail you might miss, some new twist you’re not aware of, […]
“Refraction” by Terry Geo
It’s difficult to give a mediocre review to what is basically a good story. But in this book there is just too much superfluous material keeping the reader from enjoying the characters and the conflict. This novel reads like the screenplay for an 8-episode Netscape series, complete with all the explanations of the scenes, telling […]
“Dagger and Scythe” By Emilie Knight
Well, this has to be the most unlikely love story in the history of the novel. The setup of the plot is that a certain god has a way to keep his humans in line; he has a coterie of undead assassins that go around committing random atrocities, thus frightening the faithful into submission. Dagger […]
“Grey Skies” by William Becker
I have nothing against surrealism. A surrealist work is like a puzzle that presents us with tantalizing hints of meaning, toys with our perception of it, dangling full understanding out of reach, and then leaves us with powerful images that keep reappearing in our minds, forcing us to reconsider what we have read. It makes […]
“A Time of Love and Tartan” by Alexander McCall Smith
People-watching is a fascinating pastime. It seems rather boring because most of one’s subjects do not inspire great interest. It’s sort of like buying lottery tickets: a mug’s game, as everyone knows. However, we are kept entranced by the possibility that any one of our humdrum attempts could suddenly turn out to be a winner. […]
“The Puppet Master” by Ronald S. Barak
This is a story about the political situation in Washington, the same old story of politicians with alternate objectives to their positions protecting those positions no matter what. Likewise all the civil servants down the line to the police detective, who is expected to solve a complicated serial murder case, while at the same time […]
“Long Live Phoenixes” by Jasmine Farrell
“Phoenixes” is the poetry of a young woman breaking free from the cocoon of her youth, rejecting while respecting the wisdom and desires of her family and background in favour of her independence. Her poems reveal glimpses of her past: sometimes gently, other times with less gentility, leading us to wonder whether there was a […]
“Hands of Ruin” by Dylan Lee Peters
I recently reviewed a series of very short books, held together by a common setting and main character, but each a complete story in its own right. This book is exactly the opposite. It is one of a series of long stories, each an integral part of the group, none complete in itself. Each […]